Mayor’s Update to City Council
Mayor Donna D. Holaday
February 8, 2021
COVID-19 Update: We continue to see significantly smaller daily new cases since the New Year. Last week our case rate reduced to 20.5 per 100,000, according to the State report. This is a 50% decrease from the previous week and our rate had been over 50 per 100,000 over the holidays and In addition, our positivity rate is now 2.31. It had been above 5% for the majority of the holiday season. This is encouraging news, and I ask that residents continue to be vigilant, make good decisions and following all the state’s guidelines.
As far as vaccines, last week the state announced a 2-1-1 hotline for residents over 75 years old to sign up for a vaccine. This is in addition to the online portal available on mass.gov. Our Council on Aging now has an intern staff that is also available to help with signing up.
Locally, we have just completed our second shot clinic for first responders. We are currently organizing with Cataldo Ambulance a vaccination clinic for our teachers and school department staff. Regionally, there are additional vaccine sites in the planning stages.
Beth Israel Lahey Health (BILH) will begin their vaccination clinic at the Senior Community Center on February 15. By this point, residents 75 or over that are part of the BILh system should have been contacted by their health providers about registration for this clinic.
Finally, local governments across the country are collaborating to declare the first Monday in March as COVID Memorial Day. 32 Newburyport residents have died from complications from the virus. This resolution is part of a late file submitted to the City Council earlier today. This will give the Council time to review and vote on the resolution at the February 22nd meeting and in advance of COVID-19 Memorial Day on March 1st.
Snow Storms and DPS Response: I’d like to thank DPS Director Tony Furnari, Deputy Director Jamie Tuccolo, and all the DPS staff for all their hard work during a very difficult overnight Nor’easter on February 1st that dumped 17 inches of snow in a very short period of time. Our plow crew worked 30 hours straight clearing roads, and then continued snow removal through the end of last week. After plowing yesterday, DPS staff will continue clearing snow in neighborhoods. There are a few smaller storms in the forecast this week.
Plum Island/ Reservation Terrace Update: I continue to work directly with the Lieutenant Governor, and the Secretaries of Energy and Environmental Affairs and MEMA on addressing the damage resulting from flooding on Reservation Terrace. The February 1st Nor’easter caused significant flooding that damaged the road as well as residents’ homes. MassDOT had mobilized prior to the storm and installed an additional temporary wall of 150 Super Sacks, but we also lost much of that wall during the storm surge.
We are encouraged by the approved Federal Funding for the dredging of the Merrimack River, which should happen later in 2021. We’re especially encouraged that the Army Corps of Engineers is working on the permitting to place the dredged sand on Reservation Terrace to restore the dune network. We are working in collaboration with the State and the Army Corp of Engineers on this important project.
In the meantime, I continue to coordinate with the state on a short-term solution to get us through this winter storm season. State engineers are exploring all options. We are also working directly with MEMA on storm response and debris cleaning. Finally, I am planning on hosting a Zoom public meeting with Reservation Terrace area residents hopefully later this week once we have more direction from the state.
Phillips Drive – Engineering, design, and next steps: BSC Engineering will have 75% engineering design complete next month. We will be scheduling a public meeting to review the plans next month once they’re finished. After public review, BSC will be putting a bid package together and the project will go out to bid this summer. This project will begin in 2021, most likely in the fall. This project is on the priority list of capital items, and I will be submitting an authorization to bond for this project within the next few months. Attached also is an update from DPS on some of the maintenance requests by the residents.
Phillips Dr. Priority List (DPS Comments)
Hi-Way Safety and High Street Update: KP Law has officially submitted the Complaint against Hi-Way Safety for the damaged they caused on High Street back in September 2019. In the meantime, this section of High Street, from Three Roads to Toppans Lane, will be restriped with bike lanes this paving season, regardless of how our complaint progresses.
Roadway Improvement Plan: The 5 Year Roadway Improvement Plan is being finalized by BETA and will be available by the end of the month. We will be scheduling time for Councillors to review the plan, and we will also schedule a public Zoom meeting for public review. The plan will have $2 million of road and sidewalk work planned for each year.
Fire Stations Feasibility Study: This afternoon the Fire Station Working Group met to review Winter Street’s revised schematic design for the Station 2/ Cutter Station. This was Task 2, and Winter Street will be following up in the next few weeks with Task 3, which is an alternative schematic design to Station 2 that includes land to be acquired by the City. Once Task 3 is complete we will have schematic design for both stations as specified in Winter Street’s scope of work. We will be using this information to determine how we phase and finance both projects. Both stations need to be addressed in order to improve the health and safety of our firefighters and to bring the facilities up to modern standards.
Senior Tax Relief: I am working with my staff to design a Senior Tax Relief program that would expand the number of eligible seniors in Newburyport. A few communities have recently gone through this process, including Salem and Westford. We would submit a home rule petition through the City Council to get approval from the State Legislature. We are in the process of designing the program, and it would an include asset limit and a year of residency in Newburyport requirement. Those were the main two issues that were identified during debate when we perused adopting Ch. 41 C ½ in 2019. There are many seniors that are struggling to afford living in their homes, and I look forward to working with the City Council on this important issue.
DEI Alliance Update and Community Read: Our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Alliance has been meeting twice a month since December. It is a great group of residents who are eager to make Newburyport a more inclusive community. The group is working on a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Opportunities, Weaknesses, Threats). The Alliance is also working with Michael Eatman, who has been working with the School District for the last few years. The group is busy working on these items and we envision public interactions with the group later in 2021.
DEI members were also assigned to read Just Mercy as part of a greater community read organized by the School District. The School Department will be hosing a virtual community dialogue this Wednesday, February 10th from 6:00pm-7:30pm.
Waterfront Park: Committee on Market Landing Park Expansion has reviewed all of the 14 proposals received. Three firms were selected to be interviewed, and the interviews were conducted last week. We expect to make an announcement on the chosen design team by the end of this week.
MMA Board of Directors: I would like to congratulate Councillor Afroz Khan on being elected to serve as the District 3 Representative of the Massachusetts Municipal Councillors’ Association (MMCA). Newburyport greatly benefits from having representation on this board. Thank you Councillor Khan for your efforts.
In addition, I will continue to serve on the Board of Directors as the District 3 Representative of the Massachusetts Mayors’ Association (MMaA), as well I was appointed to serve as this year’s Chair of the Women Elected Municipal Officials Committee (WEMO).